Testimony: Leyritz drank equal to 11, 12 shots of 70-proof vodka

November 9, 2010|By Tonya Alanez, Sun Sentinel

FORT LAUDERDALE — A toxicologist testifying in Jim Leyritz's DUI manslaugter trial Tuesday said he estimated the ex-baseball player drank the equivalent of 11 or 12 shots of 70-proof vodka before the crash that killed a Plantation mother of two.

Dr. Harold Schueler testified that using, in part, an equation to determine the alcohol-elimination rate for an average male, Leyritz would have had an alcohol level of .19 at the time of the crash. Florida's legal limit is .08.

In cross examination, Leyritz's lawyer David Bogenschutz called the calculation "conjecture."

"Average isn't a scientific measuring rod, is it?" Bogenschutz asked. "Do you know anything about Jim Leyritz? Do you know anything about his drinking patterns?"

Schueler said it was not and he did not.

"When you average people like that, you don't get a true picture of the person in front of you?" Bogenschutz continued.

The doctor said: "No, there's a range."

Leyritz, 46, is accused of driving drunk, running a red light and hitting an SUV driven by Fredia Ann Veitch, 30. She died on Dec. 28, 2007, after she was thrown from her Mitsubishi Montero at the intersection of Southwest Seventh Avenue and Second Street in Fort Lauderdale.

Before the crash, the former Yankees slugger had been out celebrating his 44th birthday. If he is convicted, Leyritz, a father of three from Davie, faces a prison sentence of four to 15 years.

Earlier Tuesday, Schueler, the head toxicologist at the Broward Medical Examiner's Office, had been prepared to testify that Leyritz's blood-alcohol level was a slightly lower .18 at the time of the crash.

But Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold ruled that Schueler could not use the results of a second, illegal blood draw test in making his calculation. He would have to rely on a first, legal blood draw, plus the standard calculation for an average male.

Schueler had reached his first conclusion using two blood samples taken from Leyritz about three and four hours after the 3:19 a.m. crash, showing alcohol levels of .14 and .13. Then he calculated backward to the time of the collision.

Leyritz refused to consent to either blood draw.

Florida law allows authorities to forcibly take blood from a suspect in a fatal crash — but only once. Therefore, Gold would not let the jury consider evidence about the second blood draw.

In its second week of trial, the prosecution's case has suffered a series of setbacks. Jurors have learned that Veitch also was legally drunk on the night of the crash, and two eyewitnesses were less than definitive about whether Leyritz ran a red light when he crashed into her.

On Tuesday Schueler also testified that someone with a .19 alcohol level would display "severe impairment" of balance, motor skills and reflexes.

Last week, the first police officer at the crash scene testified that Leyritz smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes and a flushed face, but did not slur his words or stumble.

Bogenschutz used Schueler's testimony to reiterate that Veitch had an alcohol level of .18 and to emphasize that her blood sample was taken post mortem, when the body stops absorbing or eliminating any alcohol that is present.

Jurors do not know that Leyritz settled a wrongful death lawsuit earlier this year, agreeing to pay Veitch's husband and two children $250,000 in insurance and $1,000 a month for 100 months out of his own pocket.